THE BEAUTY AND GLORY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
Edited by Joel R. Beeke and Joseph A. Pipa Jr.
Reformation Heritage Books. 345 pages. £19.99
ISBN 978 1 601 761 840
‘We need the Holy Spirit. It is impossible to overestimate the significance of the Spirit of God for the lives of Christians.’
So opens this collection of 19 essays based on the combined messages of two 2011 conferences on the Holy Spirit sponsored by Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary and Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, USA. The reviewer would concur with the dust jacket statement that this book ‘is for experienced preachers, theological students and all who are interested in sound and edifying literature’. Some chapters (e.g. those by Geoff Thomas) will be more accessible than others to the general reader.
Some readers of EN may hesitate about a book that uses and commends the King James as its standard translation (although critiquing its rendering of Ephesians 1.13!) and that takes a firm ‘cessationist’ stance regarding ‘signs and wonders’ gifts. However, if you are such a reader, you will still find here a feast of biblical, doctrinal and historical studies that will not only inform your mind but also inflame your heart and that could, if prayerfully applied, transform your life. This is no ‘dry-as-dust’ theology, but studies that are in turn rigorously exegetical, heart-warmingly experiential and searchingly applicatory.
A short review cannot begin to do justice to the rich variety of topics covered: not only, predictably, the Person of the Holy Spirit and his ministry in Glorifying Christ, in Regeneration, Sanctification, Revival and Preaching, but such unusual themes as Joel Beeke’s historical study entitled ‘Richard Sibbes on entertaining the Holy Spirit’.
Future editions might like to correct minor errors on page 7, line 3, and page 9, paragraph 2, line 2. Take up and read!
Ron Hollands,
minister of Hounslow West Evangelical Church
